Soccer Balls and Shoelaces
by Timballisto
Summary: Theirs was a summer of soccer games, hollow alerts, and awkward kisses on the guardrail. Perfect. HitsuKarin


"Don't tell me your soccer skills were a fluke!" Karin laughed, faking Hitsugaya out with a little quick footwork and darting past him. The soccer ball was a white and black blur at her feet. "I expect a little more from you than that, Tourshiro!"

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho." Toushiro said testily, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. "And playing this game is beneath me."

Karin stared at him. "Anything _beneath you_ would have to be two feet tall, you pipsqueak."

"Hey!" Hitsugaya scowled. "I'm here on a mission, not to play games." Honestly, he had no idea why he'd stopped in the first place. He had a meeting with Urahara to get to.

"Then why'd you stop to talk to me?" Karin asked pragmatically.

Toushiro opened his mouth to speak, but closed it just as abruptly. "I don't know." he admitted, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "I just saw you playing out here by yourself and thought I should say hello."

"Aw, did you feel sorry for me playing all on my lonesome?" Karin teased, balancing the ball a foot off the ground on the top of her foot. She juggled the ball a few times before settling it in the dust of the sandlot field.

"Nothing like that." Toushiro muttered.

"Did'ja miss me?" Karin asked, grinning. "It's alright to admit it Toushiro-chan, I promise I won't read into it-"

"Fine, fine! I... _briefly_ missed playing soccer with you." Toushiro rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Of course it is!" Karin said. "It means you were so impressed by me during that soccer game that you decided to come back and ask me to become your sempai!"

"What, no-" Toushiro sputtered. God, if you combined her fathers propensity for making up ridiculous scenarios with her natural aptitude for sarcasm she was almost unstoppable.

"Don't worry Shiro-chan, I'm always willing to help out kids who are younger than me!"

"I am a century older than you Kurosaki!" Hitsugaya barked. "And it's Hitsugaya-taicho!"

"Uh, huh. Taicho-chan." Karin snickered.

Toushiro blurred, pushing his gigai as fast as he could without damaging it. "Don't mock me!"

Karin reeled back, her dark eyes wide. "Gah!" She landed hard on her ass, yelping more from surprise than pain. "The hell-!"

"Apologize if you want your ball back Kurosaki." Toushiro smirked, his foot resting on the ball as if he had never moved.

"Heh, you got me Toushiro." Karin said sheepishly from her spot on the ground. She clambered to her feet. "I apologize for calling it like it is."

Toushiro grit his teeth, fighting against the sweatdrop that was inching it's way down the back of his head. "That's not really what I meant by an apology..."

"Whatever." Karin waved him off, yawning. "Eh, I better get going Toushiro. Ichigo doesn't like me out past dark with all the hollows around." She shook her head. "S'not like it matters if I'm home or not. I'm pretty sure a hollow could get into our house if it really wanted to. I don't think we even have an alarm system."

"That sounds... really unsafe." Toushiro said hesitantly.

"I'm just waiting for the day I come home to my dad dead on the floor with his ghost crying over moms poster and wailing about being reunited in the afterlife." Karin rolled her eyes. "It's bad enough when he's solid- can you imagine how bad it would be if he could phase through walls?" She shuddered.

"Hn."

Without waiting to see if he'd follow with her soccer ball, Karin set off across the scrubby field. To Hitsugaya's annoyance, the Kurosaki girl had longer legs than his own, so every couple of steps he had to job lightly to keep up. How humiliating. They strolled along the Karakura river, mostly just basking in the warm sunlight and a lazy afternoon.

"You should come around more often." Karin said quietly. "It's nice."

"Oh?" Toushiro said. "Who's missing me now?"

Karin laughed and lightly shoved Toushiro's shoulder. "Seriously." she said. "It'd be cool to hang out with you more often."

"I'm a captain, I can't just take a weekend off in the Human world." Toushiro pointed out.

"I know, just- forget it." Karin clearly looked uncomfortable, and while he was curious as to what went through her mind most of (read; all of) the time, he let the subject drop.

"I wouldn't mind visiting you when I can." Hitsugaya finally said, after a long lengthy silence.

"Really?"

"Most of my missions have to do with your troublesome brother anyhow." Toushiro pointed out wryly. "It's certainly not too far out of my way."

Karin smiled. "It'd be nice to see you more often Toushiro-kun."

A warm silence fell between them as they walked in silence for a few more minutes. "Is it... bad, out there?" Karin asked hesitantly. A large part of her wanted nothing at all to do with the spirit world, but a large, more pragmatic part said she was already involved because of Ichigo, and it was better to be informed.

Hitsugaya sighed heavily. "It's not _good_." He said. "But it's not the end of the world."

"Yet." Karin muttered darkly.

"Hey, don't talk like that." Toushiro said, a little more gruffly than usually, catching Karin's arm and turning her to face him. He fixed her dark eyes with his own turquoise, pinning her with an intense stare. "Don't worry, alright? I will- _Soul Society_ will protect you."

"Aa." Karin breathed. "Toushiro...?"

Hitsugaya blinked. Then his face turned crimson. His face was inches from hers. "Guh-"

"Here." Karin muttered, her face ruddy. She leaned forward, her eyes screwed comically shut. Hitsugaya didn't even have time to close his eyes before she was kissing him.

_Oh._

It warm, dry, and- new. He'd never even kissed anyone, not that he remembered- Did all kisses feel like this? Hitsugaya felt, for the first time in a long time (perhaps since Momo left for the Shinigami Academy?) that someone actually wanted him around. Karin was a human- she wouldn't be impressed by the power of a taicho or shinigami affairs she knew almost nothing about. She liked Toushiro for himself.

_She was **kissing** him._

Karin broke away softly, her own cheeks flushed a bright red. "Ahem- er- that was for good luck. Against Aizen, you know." She coughed into her fist, unsuccessfully hiding her embarrassment.

"Yeah..." Hitsugaya mumbled. "Luck."

Then she turned to leave and he took a step to follow-

"Gah!" Toushiro's chin slammed hard into the pavement and his teeth clicked painfully together. "What the- KARIN!" he yelled in outrage, staring back at his shoelaces that had been tied together in an innocent looking bow. "How- when-"

Karin cackled (it wasn't a giggle- that was too innocent a word). "That's for knocking me on my ass Toushiro-kun!"

"I didn't knock you on your face!" Toushiro barked, getting to his hands and knees. "And it's Hitsugaya-taicho to you!"

"Yeah, yeah." Karin's shit-eating grin was infuriating. She turned and started walking again, her soccer ball tucked under her arm. "Come see me again sometime! I know you miss me!"

"Like hell!"

It was the beginning of a beautiful summer.


End file.
